Hey, everyone! I just wrapped up my time in Khao Yai National Park which ended up being… pretty spectacular. Lots of special wildlife encounters – gibbons, elephants, squirrels, weird lizards, and more! I love wildlife, and due to the variety in Khao Yai, the trip was definitely a success.

A few housekeeping things:

1) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
2) If wanting to read my first novel, Eclipse Me, you can find the link here.

Afternoon Tour

I didn’t do much during my time in Bangkok. I fly out of Thailand in early February, so the week leading up to my departure, I’ll do more exploring.

I had arrived at my Bangkok accommodation around 2am and spent the next day blogging and doing laundry. In the evening, I went to a nearby night market but didn’t do much else.

The next morning, I took a minivan from Bangkok to Pak Chong, a town on the outskirts of Khao Yai National Park, Thailand’s oldest park. After grabbing lunch and an impromptu donut (or two), I was picked up by an employee. I was staying at Greenleaf Guesthouse – a tour company that also had accommodation for their guests. I was prepared for pretty bare bones accommodation. I knew the shower was cold-water only so I didn’t have high hopes for the room… but it was very spacious and lovely! Bare bones indeed, but it certainly got the job done!

After unpacking some belongings, I laid down to rest before joining my afternoon tour. Greenleaf offers a discounted package if you do both their full day and half day tour.

At 3pm, I loaded into the back of a ute, and met five other travelers – Guy and Sarah, Kat and Sam, and Isabelle. Once situated, we drove towards our first destination – a natural spring where we could go swimming.

I was hesitant to get in the water because it wasn’t particularly hot out, but I managed to syke myself up and went in. The water was crystal clear and beautiful. Little fish swam around. I stayed in for maybe ten minutes but then started shivering and got out haha. I dried off and changed out of my swimsuit. Jo, our guide, had spotted a Chinese water dragon for us earlier. While we were in the water, he was looking for snakes.

I was hoping he would find something, but to no avail. Instead, once everyone had finished swimming, he brought over none other than a giant millipede. EEK!

In general, I am fine with giant millipedes – they are sort of like massive caterpillars. But… well, I don’t want one on me. Jo moved forward, wanted me to hold the millipede. I jerked away – no way!!! Isabelle held it, though, and inspired by her bravery, I decided to give it a go.

Jo placed the giant millipede on my hands and I shuddered, my jaw dropped, shocked at the sensation of its hundreds of legs crawling all over my body. I screamed aloud, completely irked by the feeling. The millipede started crawling up my arm, and towards the sleeve of my shirt. Jo held the sleeve open, jokingly urging the millipede to crawl inside. “No!!” I cried out. He removed it from my arm… but then placed it on my stomach. And then he placed it on my neck.

Back in Cat Tien, I had learned that if threatened, millipedes can secrete a liquid that contains cyanide, which… obviously would burn! I was glad the millipede did nothing of the sort!

After the springs, we drove to a cave. We all had to wear masks due to a fungus from the bat poop. Eek! And then… we descended into the cave. Almost immediately, Jo found a tarantula for us. I’ve only seen a tarantula in the wild once or twice before, so that was cool to see. I was already cursing myself for choosing not to bring my camera. There was a huntsman nearby, too.

In the cave, there was a small temple with floral offerings and incense.

As we went deeper into the cave, we started seeing the bats. And then I was REALLY cursing myself, because these bats were unlike any bats I’ve seen before! I have always wanted to get a photo of these type of bats. Damn it! They were very cool. Four species of bats, of which I can only remember the name of one: round-leaf bats.

Most hung upside down, still resting, but others were fluttering about in a mild frenzy, anticipating the coming sunset.

After maybe half an hour in the cave, we climbed back to the surface and drove to our next and final spot of the night – a viewpoint of another cave, where we would be seeing two million bats exiting at sunset.

Jo kept us well-fed throughout the trip. We’d had small bags of chips, cookies, and before the final bat show we were given fruits – longans, dragonfruit, and later, even pineapple.

Just as the sun dipped below the horizon, the bats started to fly out of the cave. I’ve seen this before – most notably in Indonesia. But… not like this. Usually, as bats exit the cave, it appears to be every man for himself. But here… this species of bats were all flying together, in a synchronized manner. They seemed to wave through the sky in an undulating ripple. How incredible! I was in awe, with my head tilted back.

Jo set out mats for everyone to lay down on. I laid down and looked up to the sky, admiring the bats who just kept coming and coming and coming. There seemed to be an endless supply of them. After maybe thirty minutes, in the fading light, I could tell the flow of bats was slowing. And, once it was totally dark, we started to pack up our things.

BUT! Jo had one more trick up his sleeve. His driver, whom I never learned the name of, had been searching the nearby woods for something to show us. In his palm, Jo held the scorpion the driver found for him. I’ve seen scorpions before but haven’t seen someone hold one in the palm of their hand. Everyone was quite pleased.

Jo shone a normal light on the scorpion but then switched it to UV. The scorpion, as they do, glowed under the blacklight. Very cool!

After a fun afternoon, we drove back to our accommodation and had dinner. We were all excited to be going on the full day tour and actually entering the national park the next morning.

I got dessert at the 7/11 and when I returned, Jo motioned for me to come over and hold out my hand. He was going to place something in it and he wanted me to close my hand around it immediately. I was hesitant but I did it. Whatever creature I held in my closed hand was scratching against it – an odd sensation to be sure. Eventually, he allowed me to open my palm and what was in it was… a mole cricket!

Into Khao Yai

I was up by 7.30am and loading into the ute just after 8. It was the same group from the afternoon prior plus two others: Alex and Josh. Unfortunately… it was raining. I was prepared with a rain poncho and leech socks but I was worried about the weather. How was this going to affect our wildlife sightings? I always tend to forget… weather can really put a damper on travel plans sometimes!

Luckily, by the time we entered the national park, the rain fizzled to a drizzle and eventually stopped. It didn’t rain any further that day, although it remained overcast. There was a viewpoint which… well, it was so foggy, there was nothing to be seen. Our guide, Ghaan (pronounced “gun”), told us that hopefully we would be able to see something today. I immediately liked Ghaan – she had been guiding for ten years and grew up near the jungle. She explained she was a bit of a tomboy and always curious about strange wildlife. She had once, even though cautioned not to by her mother, gotten too close to a pit viper that ended up biting her finger. Ghaan had to go to hospital for a few days but luckily survived the encounter.

We all donned leech socks and I wondered what the day would have in store for us. Would they be more plentiful than even the insane nighttime encounter in Cat Tien? Thankfully not.

One of our first exciting sightings of the day were some great hornbills in the trees close to the road. I was excited to see them. I’d heard Khao Yai was a great spot for hornbill sightings – and sure enough! I think we saw three or four great hornbills that morning. We got to see them take off in flight, too. Always a treat. They’re such big birds!

Half an hour later, we were experiencing our next wildlife encounter… GIBBONS! These guys are white-handed gibbons. Some of them have blonde fur while others are dark – similar to those in Cat Tien, although with this species, oddly, it doesn’t have to do with sexual dimorphism.

I believe we saw six gibbons that morning – two blonde, four with dark fur (including one baby clinging to its mother). I was delighted to see the gibbons. If you remember, I spent a lot of time searching for gibbons in Cat Tien. Only two hours into our wildlife safari, we had already spotted six!

Next, we stopped at the visitor center. The center was seated next to a river and had a small walking path going into the jungle. Ghaan pointed out a kingfisher resting on a branch along the river. She is excellent at spotting wildlife, which I was really grateful for!

We crossed a suspension bridge over the river and began our short walk through the jungle trail. It was lush and beautiful. Ghaan told us she was looking for pit vipers, which were occasionally found on the trail near the river’s edge. No such luck, but she did spot a squirrel.

On our way back to the visitor center, we saw three more hornbills – much closer than the first encounter. These guys were pied hornbills, much smaller but equally as exciting to see. They hung out for maybe a minute or two before flying off into another canopy.

We stopped for snacks at the visitor center. I ordered a pad thai and sat along the river edge. There were some macaques nearby but none of them bothered me. Across the river, I spotted a deer munching on foliage.

We drove to the base of our trekking adventure for the day and hopped out of the ute. Our group wandered into the jungle… and this is when we first started to experience leeches. During the two(?) hour adventure, I think almost all of us had gotten at least one leech crawling up our leech socks. I was surprised by my reaction to them – I think the exposure therapy in Cat Tien really worked. I wasn’t super bothered when I had to pluck some off of me.

Ghaan spotted birds for us but otherwise, we weren’t seeing too much on the trail. Now and again, we’d find elephant dung – proof that they navigate these trails. At other times, Ghaan would point out claw marks from sun bears on the trees. Crazy!

The highlight of the trail was when we spotted some more gibbons, this time MUCH closer than earlier in the morning. They were swinging in the trees, occasionally resting to munch on fruit. One of them, a blonde one, was very close. I was delighted to snap photos and even get a few that I’m really happy with. Yay!

One of them was clinging to a flimsy branch when… “NOOO!!” I screamed as it fell probably fifteen feet. I was afraid it was going to crash to the jungle floor and, well, die. But no – this acrobat managed to grip another branch in the nick of time. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Crazy gibbons!!!

We took a break and sat down at a massive tree that had been killed by strangler figs. I have seen a number of strangler figs during my travels but this one was really quite impressive.

Ghaan also spotted a very cool horned tree lizard for us!

Once we finished our trek, we stopped back at the visitor center to have lunch. Red curry and rice, baby! We also saw a few deer. While driving away from the visitor center, we saw the bucks on their hind legs, fighting each other.

As we began driving to our next stop, Ghaan received a text from her group chat with the other guides. She informed us an elephant had been sighted. We hustled to get to the spot in time. “This might be our only chance to see one today,” she said as the driver started speeding. Everyone was excited. Initially, I had tried not to get my hopes up. I knew elephant sightings in Khao Yai were possible but it wasn’t the best park in Thailand to see them. So when we arrived at the spot and the elephant had already retreated into the forest, I was only mildly disappointed. Plus, I had plans to visit Kui Buri in the following weeks – a place with a 90% success rate for elephant viewings, likely the best spot in Thailand. Still, I think everyone was a little bummed out.

From there, we drove to a waterfall. We had thirty minutes to explore the area. Ghaan was waiting for us at the parking lot. Our group descended the steps and snapped photos of the waterfall. After taking a video, I decided I would slowly make my way to the parking lot, looking for snakes along the way. My plan was derailed when I received a call from someone on Instagram. Huh? But then I realized it was Ghaan – I had followed her earlier in the day when she was showing me some of her wildlife photos/videos. Ghaan asked if I was near the rest of the group and, if so, if I could tell them to come back up because there was another elephant sighting. I rounded up the others. Kat later laughed recalling how calm I seemed to be, because she immediately lost her shit. I certainly didn’t feel calm – I was excited!

We were back at the parking lot in five minutes. Ghaan laughed at our speediness. “You don’t have to run!” Oh, yes, we did.

Next thing I knew, we were in the ute, speeding towards the direction of where the elephant had been sighted. Would we make it in time? We had a long way to go. We must have driven for 20min. That’s absolutely enough time for an elephant to retreat back into the jungle.

“How much longer?” Kat asked. “About 2km,” Ghaan answered. As we turned the corner, we were met with a small convoy of cars. We drove around them and… there it was. A lone bull elephant, ambling down the road. It has been a while since I’ve seen a wild elephant – and never before an Asian elephant. Those I’d seen were in Kruger National Park in South Africa and that was back in 2017.

The bull was twice the size of the cars, towering over them. Slowly, it moved down the road, at times veering closer to the left or right. It was missing a tail – lost in a fight with another bull, Ghaan explained. Poor guy.

We also learned that elephants (and most of these larger animals) have a unique smell. The elephants, strangely, smell like marijuana haha. It was very strong smell!

Park rangers parked their trucks on either side of the elephant, acting as a mobile barrier between the massive creature and the tourists. We had to keep traffic moving and so we passed by the elephant. For a moment, there we were, side by side with this incredible creature. Half a mile down, we did a U-turn and were able to make one more pass, going back the direction we came. My heart was beating fast. I felt humbled by the near-spiritual sighting of the wild elephant. What a dream!

We returned back to the visitor center to make one more pit stop before leaving the park. After our break, we returned to the ute and started to leave the park, when Kat cried out, “elephant!” It was just at the edge of the jungle. She and Sam had smelled it before they’d seen it – again, that strong smell similar to marijuana.

We pulled over and waited to see what would happen. Maybe thirty seconds later, a different bull elephant from before came out of the jungle and started to walk along the road. Because it was a considerable distance away, we were able to get out of the ute and follow it at a distance. For walking so slowly, you’d be surprised by the distance these guys can cover – and quickly.

Our group followed the elephant all the way back to the visitor center. How crazy to see – a real wild elephant with a large print-out poster featuring photos of elephants behind it. It was such an unreal experience. At the visitor center, the elephant started to turn around, facing our direction. Gathering our final glances, we returned to our ute and exited the park. What an incredible grand finale!

The others discovered that during our brief time following the elephant, a few leeches had found their way onto our socks. Yep, I got one on me, too. I even helped some of the others get theirs off. Damn leeches! Leeches aside, we were all on a high from the elephant sightings and our magical day in the park. Kat and I both share an affinity for elephants in particular – she has a tattoo of one as well. We bonded over the joy of it.

The driver dropped off Ghaan before we arrived at the guesthouse. “Wait! Let’s take a selfie,” I said to her. We snapped a quick photo and I thanked her for being such an awesome guide. Truly one of the best I’ve had! I was hoping I could join her on another tour the next day but she was leading a private group.

Once we were dropped off, our group had dinner at the guesthouse before parting ways. We all connected via WhatsApp and I sent the others a few of the wildlife photos from my camera. Everyone else was leaving the next morning but I was staying another day. It was a great group and an unforgettable day.

Khao Yai: Day Two

My original plan was to spend three nights around Khao Yai. The first was the afternoon tour, the second was the full day tour… and the third was maybe just doing a day trip to the park by myself.

However, I hadn’t realized until the day tour just how far the visitor center is from my guesthouse. I decided I didn’t want to ride a scooter all day and would rather just join another tour. So that’s what I did!

This time I was joined by four Kiwis, a German couple, and a couple from the Netherlands. I started chatting with the Kiwis pretty much immediately – Jack, Jake, Felix, and George. As we drove into the park, Bonne and I started talking as well, followed by his partner Lise. I never learned the name of the German couple – whoops!

Day two was more of the same… but also different. Because it hadn’t rained that morning, we were able to actually see the first viewpoint.

Our first sighting, again, was a few hornbills off in the distance. Jack was very excited by this – he loves birds and had been hoping to see hornbills.

We drove to the spot where the gibbons had been the day prior, but no sightings. We heard them, though! Bonne had told me he was really hoping to see gibbons. I didn’t want to jinx it, so I didn’t say that I think he might.

While driving, we heard a family of gibbons very close to the road. We pulled over and entered the woods. Gibbons can move very quickly. Where they initially seemed to be right there, they’d suddenly moved very deep into the woods. While our guide wandered further into the woods, we were told to wait for him. We waited in place for probably ten minutes and, in the end, didn’t see any gibbons. Damn!

The others knew I had gone on the tour the day before and everyone was curious to know what I’d seen. I made it a point not to disclose because I didn’t want to color anyone’s experience any kind of way. If I’d seen elephants and they hadn’t… well, it would be disappointing for them. If they had no benchmark in which to compare, they had no reason to be upset. So, I kept my mouth shut.

We stopped at the visitor center for a snack, where I saw a large buck laying down near the water. He was completely unbothered – just chilling out. There was also a strange squirrel in a tree. I’d seen them a few times already but because of the direction of the sun, they’d always appeared backlit and I couldn’t see their features clearly. Lighting is pretty important for wildlife viewing and photography, people!

After the visitor center, we drove to the trekking spot. We heard gibbons nearby but didn’t see any. Before we could begin our trek, our guide rushed back to the car and, without giving us any indication of what we were doing, we began speeding towards… well, SOMETHING. Well, whatever wildlife it may have been, we missed it. Damn. Back to the trekking spot we went.

During our walk, we didn’t see much at all. Our guide was pretty good about spotting birds but they were so far away, we couldn’t see them with our naked eye. I couldn’t even see them with my camera lens! Our guide had set up a scope on a tripod for us to look through to get a glimpse of the birds. I was a little frustrated with the guide because he wasn’t giving us much information about anything and also he would just walk off and tell us to stay still for 10-20min at times. Why can’t we join you?!

We did manage to see a few more hornbills flying overhead, which was nice.

Our guide also took us down a path that I hadn’t gone the day before. We exited the jungle and walked through a grassland area. We even passed a salt lick – a place where larger wildlife can come to re-up on nutrients. There was an observation tower with some informational placards. I scanned the area for wildlife, but saw nothing. It was a beautiful area, though!

Once we finished the trek, we went back to the ute. BUT THEN!!! maybe five minutes later, we stopped. Our guide had spotted some gibbons just at the side of the road. Oh, man!

This ended up being my favorite sighting of the day. There were three dark-haired gibbons and one blonde-haired one. The blonde one ended up coming pretty close to us and I managed to snap a few photos I’m pretty happy with. (Also – Mom/Dad, this gibbon is Gizmo.)

It’s so awesome to be able to see their features clearly, instead of blocked by foliage when viewing them from afar. Blondie really put on a show for us, too.

She hung out without obstruction for a few minutes, allowing us to take photo after photo. Such a cool observation! I was really pleased. I knew Bonne was happy, too.

We were all vibing from the awesome gibbon experience. Shortly after, we saw a muntjac deer on the side of the road, followed by a large monitor lizard. Suddenly, after a pretty light day, we were getting some nice wildlife sightings!

And, of course, the macaques were regular visitors.

We had lunch at the visitor center and then began driving to the waterfall. BUT our guide had received some news. We switched direction and started speeding to get to the spot. Like earlier, we were too late. It had been a pileated gibbon, a rarer species of gibbon, that we’d missed.

We visited the waterfall we’d been to the day before. I skipped it, instead choosing to walk along the fringes of the jungle looking for snakes. Nothin’!! I did spot a gecko camouflaged on a tree, though.

Our time in the park was winding down. We drove down a road that I hadn’t been able to the day prior, which was nice. We drove pretty far down that road when our guide got a call about a sighting. Suddenly, our driver was gunning it through the winding roads. Go, go, GO!

It was too late. There had been an elephant sighting along the road, but by the time we reached the spot 30min later, we had missed it. Damn. Throughout the day, the others had been occasionally mentioning elephants. But as the day wore on, talk of elephants was becoming more and more frequent. There was a slight desperation in the air. Everyone wanted to spot one before leaving the park. And with this most recent miss, I saw people had given up hope. The German couple quietly consoled one another. They had been looking forward to the potential sighting.

While we waited in the ute, our guide stood at the crest of a hill along the grasslands, scouring for the elephant(s). One of the others in the group mirrored my thinking, asking aloud why we couldn’t just join him in the search. I suppose it’s a safety thing, in some instances.

The sun was setting and I was pretty much resigned to the fact that we would not be seeing an elephant. I felt bad that the others weren’t going to be able to see one.

But then… our guide came back, and he instructed the driver to move the ute backwards a little bit. “I think [the elephant] is going to be coming out of the forest,” he told us, and allowed us to exit the ute. I was doubtful but then someone spotted it. It was very, very far off in the distance, at the fringe of the forest. But sure enough, even to the naked eye, you could see the large, bull elephant trudging through the grasslands. Amazing.

Our guide set up his scope and allowed us to take turns getting a closer look at it.

Everyone was glad to have spotted the elephant. Moments later, daylight faded to dusk and we made our way to the park entrance. Later, Bonne explained how it was quite poetic – the elephant sighting at sunset. I agree! And funny how the elephant sightings were the last sighting and the cherry on top of both my days in the park.

All in all, I’m very glad I visited the park on another tour – if only for the incredible gibbon sightings and the people I met.

Once upon a time, I had thought I would end my gap year in Tanzania, going on a wildlife safari. Well, I won’t be making it to Tanzania this round, but Asia has certainly provided me with a lot of wildlife safaris, Khao Yai being one of them. I wish I had the money to go on a weeklong safari in Khao Yai – how spectacular would that be?

Overall, I really loved it. Khao Yai provided me with some truly memorable wildlife experiences and I would be delighted to return one day. Who knows, maybe during my final week before leaving Thailand, I’ll come back for one last visit. We’ll see.

Miscellaneous

While there was a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand… it has been reignited again. Luckily, I am very far from the border between the two countries, but it is still strange to be here while a war is going on. On my first day in the park, Ghaan heard a plane flying overhead – it actually was a military plane that was heading in the direction of Cambodia. Strange and sad to think about, especially since I was in Cambodia about a month ago.

One recurring theme of being in Southeast Asia is that it’s easier to walk on the edge of the street than it is on sidewalks. Sidewalks constantly have obstructions and they also are never flat like they are in the states. They’re totally uneven and I feel like I’m always tripping over things. It’s pretty annoying. Southeast Asia is not pedestrian friendly haha. That’s why everyone rides scooters, I suppose.

Many times during my commutes between cities/countries/etc., I’m left wondering if I’m even on the right bus or train etc. It always feels a little vague and I never get all the information neatly delivered/explained to me. Yet, somehow it always has ended up being fine. I make it from point A to point B. Somehow.

One frustration, though… is money. Recently, I needed to get bills converted to 2x 10 baht coins. That is like USD$0.50. But oh, sorry, the hotel I’m staying at doesn’t have 2 fuckin’ coins. Alright, I’ll get them from the store. No problem. Butttt then I realized I needed more coins for laundry. I didn’t want to bug that same store again without buying something so I went to another store… I needed 10x 10 baht coins. Nah, they only have 4x coins and gave me the rest in notes. And that’s still not enough to dry my clothes. There will be these random inconveniences where it’s like… really? Insane. It is always difficult to get change in Asia.

Reflections

While typing this up, I’m on a sleeper train from Bangkok to Hat Yai. This is the first train I’ve been on since Indonesia. And the first sleeper train I’ve taken in Asia. It’s actually pretty nice – there’s a car for food. And I have my own “bed” to sleep on, with a blanket and charging ports.

I am on a long journey, now, one of the last really, really long ones. I should arrive in Hat Yai by 8am and then I have a van + ferry combo to get me to Koh Lipe. I’ll be spending the next two weeks there, on that tiny island. I chose it because after much research, it seems to be the best place in Thailand for snorkeling from shore. That’s all I want. I don’t want to have to pay for boat trips to snorkeling spots – I want to walk to the beach, plop on my mask, and be surrounded by fish after only a few steps.

I’m looking forward to being in the water again. Last time I was snorkeling/diving was in Malaysia, which was over three months ago.

Until next time, sending you all my love. x x